Howard repeats as Southland student-athlete of the year

Friday, March 30, 2018

FRISCO, Texas -- University of Central Arkansas senior Jordan Howard is the 2017-18 Southland Conference Men's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year, the league announced Wednesday, along with its all-academic teams.

The Bears are one of two teams to garner two picks to the all-academic teams with senior Mathieu Kamba being named a second-team SLC All-Academic selection. All yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.

Howard, a consecutive winner of the top Southland academic accolade, earns the award following a career year that saw him also claim the 2017-18 Southland Player of the Year honor. He becomes just the third player in Southland men's basketball history to win Freshman of the Year and later be named Player of the Year.

In his senior season, the Chandler, Ariz., native led the nation in total points with 880, was third in points per game at 25.1, second in field goals made, ninth in free throws made, 12th in three pointers made, 16th in in three pointers made per game and 21st in free throw percentage.

Howard set the conference record for career three pointers made with 386 and career free throw percentage mark at .868. He set school and state Division I career records for 3-pointers and points and also set school records for season 3-pointers with 111 and season points at 880. Howard was the active career scoring leader in the NCAA and was second in three-pointers.

Howard produced a 3.71 grade point average while completing his bachelor's degree in December in digital filmmaking. The three-time Southland All-Academic member also received his second College Sports Information Directors of America All-America selection, being named to the second team earlier this month. He is the only automatic selection to the Southland All-Academic Team.

Howard will compete today in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Reese's All-Star Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four.

Kamba, from Calgary, Alberta, was an honorable mention All-SLC selection who finished with 1,451 career points and 709 career rebounds, both top 10 marks at UCA. He is one of six players to be in the Top 10 in both categories. Kamba averaged 13.8 points and 6.1 rebounds as a senior and helped the Bears win an NCAA Division I best 18 games and win their first two postseason games in the Division I era. He has a 3.14 GPA in finance and will graduate in May.

The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member universities, voted for the student-athlete of the year. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale, and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.

The all-academic teams are voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic advisors from each member university. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition to qualify for the all-academic squad.

Sports on 03/30/2018